June 2018 Indonesia Economic Quarterly: Learning more, growing faster  Indonesia’s economy continues to grow at a robust pace. Higher global commodity prices spurred stronger investment. Over the last 15 years school attainment has improved significantly but student learning remains below the levels of other countries in the region…

…15 years of education reforms have helped to improve education outcomes and human capital in Indonesia, also what challenges remain. Schooling attainment has grown significantly, but student learning remains below the levels of other countries in the region, compromising Indonesia’s competitiveness in the global economy. Further actions are urgently needed to stop a growing inequality in student results and to take advantage of the opportunity generated by the many teachers retiring in the next decade…

Just published: Returns to investment in education: a decennial review of the global literature, with George Psacharopoulos

In the 60-plus year history of returns to investment in education estimates, there have been several compilations in the literature. This paper updates Psacharopoulos and Patrinos and reviews the latest trends and patterns based on 1120 estimates in 139 countries from 1950 to 2014. The private average global return to a year of schooling is 9% a year. Private returns to higher education increased, raising issues of financing and equity. Social returns to schooling remain high. Women continue to experience higher average returns to schooling, showing that girls’ education remains a priority…

Here is the working paper: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/442521523465644318/pdf/WPS8402.pdf

Blog: http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/better-returns-us-stock-market-invest-education

The Economist article: http://media.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21741558-returns-education-over-past-half-century-have-beaten-american

 

Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: Teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides

The Chinese labor market, 2000–2016  The world’s second largest economy has boomed, but a rapidly aging labor force presents substantial challenges…

Singapore is the world’s best country for children to grow up in, says NGO report  Singapore jumps 33 places from last year in Save the Children’s End of Childhood Index…

The Singapore education system is not a free lunch  We expect a lot from our education system but our discussions to shape its evolution must also consider and clarify the trade-offs, says one young Singaporean…

Can education fix inequality in Singapore? If not, what can?  As a mature, high-income and slow-growing economy, Singapore cannot expect rapid growth to mask the economic effects and social challenges of rising inequality…